Thanks to readers who identified it as cooking exclusively with wood, I discovered a new-to-me barbecue place, Carolina Brothers, out in Ashburn at 20702 Ashburn Road. I’m the Campaign for Real Barbecue’s official Smoke Detector (the one who identifies and verifies places that cook exclusively with wood. Please look over the VA-MD-DC list and tell me of any others.) I hear about a lot of barbecue places that I’ll get to in the fullness of time, but when I hear of a wood-cooker I’m on the case right away, or at least within six months. At any rate, I hopped in our flashy RAV 4, and headed to Carolina Brothers, where they do cook only with wood, just as they should.
Not long ago Ashburn was a small crossroads community in rural Loudoun County. Today it’s a major data processing center with close to 50,000 residents and now has the highest family incomes of any county in the US. It’s also the home of the local football team, the Washington Commanders, or Commies as I call them.
Carolina Brothers hearkens back to Ashburn’s crossroads days. Danny Hurdle of South Mills, North Carolina, out in Camden County, came up and opened Carolina Brothers in a former general store. He retired and sold the place to the Gorey family, most of whose children had worked at Carolina Brothers. Danny Hurdle helped with the transition and the Gorey and Hurdle families remain close. Frank Gorey has kept the Hurdle chalkboard marked that “Today’s pig came from South Mills, NC,” and he continues to feature Hurdle’s original barbecue sauce on the tables. Carolina Brothers is a warm, welcoming place.
It’s also both spacious and down to earth. The walls are painted concrete block decorated by old photographs and festooned with pig figurines. The tables and chairs are mismatched but everything is wooden, sturdy, clean and tidy.
A television set softly plays country music videos, and ambient noise gets absorbed by the new acoustical ceiling. There are lots of touches of North Carolina.
(You also can get a beer or seltzer.) Everyone is friendly and relaxed, and you order and get your food in that sweet spot between getting rushed and getting antsy. In all, Carolina Brothers is a very pleasant spot for a meal.
And you can eat a very good meal there. I ordered a pork plate with green beans and macaroni and cheese, and I managed a taste of their brisket as well.
This is good barbecue. The pork had a moderately rough chop, and it arrives with good moisture to accent its tenderness. The North Carolina light smoke brings out the pork flavor, as does their vinegar-pepper sauce, a true Eastern North Carolina sauce. It’s not on the table, but I was asked what sauce I preferred and said I preferred vinegar and pepper sauces, so they gave me some. There are two sauces on the table, both developed by Mr. Hurdle, and one with a little story about him on the label. I tried the hot version, a well seasoned sauce with North Carolina roots. I skipped the sweet sauce, as always. I liked the macaroni and cheese, but then when do I not? The green beans with all those chopped onions were standouts, especially with just a touch of the pepper vinegar sauce.
I was having so much fun that I ordered a slice of pecan pie.
Wow! That was some pecan pie. I went over and congratulated Frank Gorey on the pie. He quickly gave credit to Mom’s, the place to go for pies in Loudoun County. He did brag about their own products, and gave me two of their blondie and oatmeal butterscotch cookies and a vanilla chocolate chip blondie made in house. The cookies seem to have disappeared on the ride home, but the blondie made it. My theory is that if there’s something in the house that you shouldn’t eat, the thing to do is get rid of it by eating it all right away. It works every time.
As you have gathered, I definitely am a fan of Carolina Brothers for several reasons. The barbecue is reason enough to love it, but it’s also just a good place to be. Go see for yourself. You’ll be a fan, too.
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